Car Technology

Paris to Beijing on only 40,000 liters of diesel

We might not have heard a peep out of Mercedes if its Paris-to-Beijing diesel rally hadn't been completed, but as it is, the press wires are abuzz with news of the completion of the "greatest diesel marathon of all time." The rally involved 36 Mercedes-Benz E-Class cars, all of which drove the 8,750... 11/17/2006

Hydrogen to help with my commute

It looks as if I'll soon be coming to work with the assistance of hydrogen fuel-cell technology. The Federal Transit Administration announced today that it has selected British defense contractor BAE Systems as the recipient of a $5.35 million grant for the integration of hydrogen fuel cells in hyb... 11/13/2006

GM's PHEV likely to debut in Detroit

Following yesterday's Los Angeles Times article on GM's development of a new kind of gasoline-electric hybrid, Reuters is reporting this morning that the car is likely to make its first appearance at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit next January. The unveiling will come exa... 11/10/2006

Who resurrected the electric car?

General Motors is planning to mix up another combination of the gasoline-electric hybrid-powertrain cocktail. The Los Angeles Times is reporting today that GM has developed a prototype of a new kind of electric car that uses an internal combustion engine solely as an electric generator. Scheduled t... 11/09/2006

SEMA selects the most aftermarket-friendly cars

Putting a new stereo in some cars requires cutting large holes in the dashboard, while on others it's a simple process of sliding the previous stereo out and dropping a new one in. That's the difference between cars that follow standards, such as DIN slots in the dashboard, and cars with extensively... 11/07/2006

Your future fuel tank

We reported earlier on GM's new Equinox fuel cell car that it plans to put on the road next year. Green Car Congress has a story about GM signing up Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide as its hydrogen fuel tank supplier. GM's 100 planned Equinoxes will get Quantum's tanks, which are made of ... 11/06/2006

VW steering wheel suggests countersteer

Roadholding technologies such as traction control and stability programs are becoming standard on many cars, but VW takes a further step with its steering-impulse system. When your car's tires are slipping and the car is thinking a little countersteer (turning toward a sideways skid) is called for, ... 10/30/2006

Vodafone, TomTom partner on a collective wisdom traffic service

Participatory traffic navigation moved up another gear today with the announcement from TomTom and UK-based wireless operator Vodafone that they have developed a traffic data service for the Netherlands that relies on data transmitted in real time from Vodafone cell phone handsets to static base sta... 10/27/2006

BP opens hydrogen fueling station in Michigan

Hydrogen fuel cell cars still may be years away from the mainstream, but BP and DaimlerChrysler took another step toward the hydrogen economy yesterday by opening a dedicated hydrogen fueling station in southeast Michigan. The station, which will be used to fill up DCX fuel cell vehicles with hydrog... 10/24/2006

Audi gets odder

Audi's numbering scheme for U.S. models used to be exclusively even, with the A4, the A6, and the A8 (not to mention the S versions of the same cars). But after the A3 and the Q7, we should expect more oddness from the German carmaker. The Winding Road obtained spy shots of the Audi A5 being tested ... 10/24/2006

Dino resurrected

No, Dean Martin is not coming back from the dead (as nice as that would be). Inside Line has a story about Ferrari reviving the Dino, the curvy model Ferrari built from 1968 to 1974 and named after Enzo Ferrari's son. According to the story, Ferrari needs an entry-level model. The new Dino will be a... 10/24/2006

Another CNET blog to crave

Rev up your RSS reader--CNET has a brand-new blog. Its name says it all: Crave (http://crave.cnet.com) will cover the hottest and coolest digital gadgetry that you must have. Check it out (over and over and over again) for the latest in freaky, funny, or just plain awesome consumer electronics. ... 10/17/2006

New battery tech drives cars for 100 miles

A new kind of battery made primarily from carbon and plastic could extend the range of electric cars, increase the mileage of hybrid cars, and make plug-in hybrids more prevalent. Technology Research Laboratories (TRL) announced the new battery technology, claiming that it has been tested beyond 100... 10/16/2006

Ford makes MP3 jack standard

Taking a cue from a J.D. Power and Associates study that found more than half of today's drivers want MP3 player integration in their cars, Ford announced today that it would make auxiliary audio input jacks standard on its 2007 Edge, Explorer, Expedition, Mustang, Fusion, Sport Trac, Ranger, and F-... 10/11/2006

Ride-along with the Pioneer AVIC Z-1

The nice people at Pioneer just took us out for a spin on wild streets of San Francisco to try to generate some more buzz around their now 10-month-old AVIC Z-1 navigation unit. While this kind of hands-on demo would have been more useful prior to our test-bench review of the unit earlier in the yea... 10/11/2006

Inside Toyota's magic kingdom

Toyota's über-efficient manufacturing practices have attracted a lot of interest over the past few years. Concepts such as 'just in time' supply-chain management and bottom-up innovation, together with the success of the Prius hybrid have helped the Japanese automaker maintain consistent growt... 10/10/2006

Mitsubishi to charge into the States with an all-electric compact

It looks like Mitsubishi is planning to bring an all-electric compact car to the United States. According to Automotive News, Mitsubishi president Osamu Masuko made the announcement last week in Las Vegas, saying that the lithium-ion battery-powered, zero-emissions car would be launched first in Ja... 10/09/2006

One fewer pedal for Chrysler

According to Automotive News (subscription required), Chrysler intends to advance its transmission technology by equipping its cars with dual-clutch transmissions for the 2010 model year. Dual-clutch transmissions, such as Volkswagen's Direct Shift Gearbox, let the driver shift without pushing a clu... 10/09/2006

Five million dollars up for grabs for inventor of 'ultimate iDrive'

In a rare insight into the minds of venture capitalists, Business 2.0 has published a list of the 20 design ideas that the tech investment community would like to see become a reality--and one of them is an advanced driver interface that will make use of heads-up display technology. According to the... 10/06/2006

Mercury Mariner Hybrid gets tech upgrade

In our reviews of the 2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid and its slightly rougher twin, the 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid, we criticized the poorly implemented cabin tech. The unveiling of the 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid this week shows that Ford seriously upgraded the cabin. The press release about the new Mari... 10/06/2006

Mazda CX-7 first take

Mazda's contribution to the crossover trend arrived in our garage today, so we took it out for a quick spin to get some initial impressions (full review to come next week). One of our staff immediately scoffed at the notion of a crossover, insisting on labeling the CX-7 as an SUV. And when I got in ... 10/05/2006

Nissan steps into the hybrid waters

The much-anticipated Nissan Altima Hybrid was unveiled today at the Orange County Auto Show, marking Nissan's first hybrid vehicle and a potentially strong competitor to Toyota's Camry Hybrid. Nissan offered some impressive stats with its new car, notably a total 198 horsepower rating for the electr... 10/04/2006

Sony goes rock-bottom with MP3 playback

All tech-savvy drivers want their car stereos to play MP3 CDs and have a hookup for an MP3 player. Sony shows that it gets this market with the launch of four new car-stereo head units. The bottom-end one, the CDX-GT110, sells for about $80 and has an auxiliary input on the faceplate. And of course,... 10/03/2006

2007 Ford Escape Hybrid first look

Ford put a toe into the hybrid waters with its Escape and found the temperature comfortable enough to stick around for the little SUV's third year. In fact, the times are definitely in favor of the Escape Hybrid, as it pretty easily fits the profile of a cross-over utility vehicle (CUV), the hot new... 09/28/2006

Citroën C-Metisse epitomizes the alternative future

If there was one car that we saw that summed up the mood of the 2006 Paris Auto Show today, it was Citroën's C-Metisse concept car. Like most concepts, the C-Metisse is unique and not a little fantastical in its styling: four gull-wing doors, an impossibly long and low body, retractable airfoil... 09/28/2006